The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) has received confirmation from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Counsel that carriers who engage solely in brokering freight from Canada to the United States, between points within the United States and from the United States to Canada are required to obtain and file with FMCSA a surety bond or trust fund agreement in the amount of $75,000.
Brokering is defined as solely arranging for the transportation of property whereby the carriers own trucks do not engage in any part of the movement of the property. To interline a shipment is to transfer the property between two or more carriers for movement to its final destination.
For complete details of the requirements applicable to carriers and questions and answers specific to the differences between brokerage and interlining operations, please refer to the September 5, 2013 Federal Register Notice at the link here. It is recommended carriers specifically read questions A 1, 5 & 6 and B 1.
In terms of how carriers should structure their brokerage operations from a registration process, FMCSA indicated there is no need to separate the broker authority from the motor carrier authority. In the future, the Agency expects to require each registered entity to have its own USDOT number. Under that one USDOT number, the entity could have both broker and motor carrier authority. If the motor carrier and broker were separate entities, each entity (broker or motor carrier) would have a separate USDOT number.
FMCSA also indicated that as of now, carriers seeking to apply for broker authority should follow the application instructions on the FMCSA website at www.fmcsa.dot.gov. FMCSA will provide information about any future application process changes at a later date.